Pompeo in Doha to sign troop withdrawal with Taliban
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in Doha to witness a US troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban that could end the war in Afghanistan.
The signing ceremony between the United States and Taliban militants was set to take place in Doha on Saturday afternoon.
Ahead of the meeting, the Taliban ordered fighters "to refrain from any kind of attack" for the day even as foreign forces' aircraft were flying over militant territory which the group called "irritating and provocative."
"Today all the Taliban fighters are ordered to refrain from any kind of attack ... for the happiness of the nation," Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban told Reuters.
"The biggest thing is that we hope the US remain committed to their promises during the negotiation and peace deal," he said.
The deal is aimed at withdrawing thousands of US troops from Afghanistan and a permanent ceasefire in the war-torn country.
Reports said a 31-member Taliban delegation had arrived in Qatar to oversee the signing of the troop withdrawal deal.
Washington's decision to exclude Kabul from the peace talks has received a firestorm of rebukes from the Afghan government.
In September, the US and the Taliban appeared close to signing a deal that would have seen Washington begin withdrawing thousands of troops and potentially end almost two decades of war in Afghanistan.
It was also expected to pave the way towards direct talks between the Taliban and the government in Kabul. The Taliban have been saying they do not recognize the Afghan government, which has so far been kept out of previous US-Taliban talks.
Trump ended yearlong talks with the Taliban in September. The negotiations were aimed at ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan.
The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time. But US forces have remained bogged down there through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Trump.
The US-led war on Afghanistan has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people, including local security forces, civilians, insurgents and foreign troops. Thousands of US soldiers and their allies have also been killed.
The conflict has cost the United States around a trillion dollars.
Nearly 20,000 foreign troops, most of them Americans, are currently deployed in Afghanistan as part of a mission to purportedly train, assist, and advise Afghan security forces.
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